A multimedia ecosystem may comprise a number of multimedia devices that communicate multimedia content between one another using a particular set of multimedia file formats. With the recent rise of wireless networks, many of the multimedia file formats have evolved to facilitate communication over these wireless networks. Multimedia devices that each implement the same set of multimedia file formats for communicating multimedia content between one another over a wireless network may form what may be referred to as a wireless multimedia ecosystem. These multimedia devices of wireless multimedia ecosystems may include particular types of wireless modems to communicate via the one or more wireless networks.
A number of different types of modems exist by which to transfer multimedia content wirelessly. Example wireless modems include Wireless Personal Area Network (WPAN) modems (e.g., Bluetooth™ modems), cellular modems (e.g., Universal Mobile Telecommunications System or UMTS modems, Global Systems for Mobile communications or GSM modems, High-Speed Downlink Packet Access or HSDPA modems, and High-Speed Uplink Packet Access or HSUPA modems), Wireless Wide Area Network (WWAN) modems (e.g., Worldwide Inter-operability for Microwave Access or WiMax modems), and Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) modems (e.g., Wi-Fi™ modems or other modems compliant with the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers or IEEE 802.11 set of standards). Each of these different modems may implement different forms and levels of Forward Error Correction (FEC), communicate via different wireless communication channels, and consume different levels of power.
In addition, a number of different multimedia file formats exist for segmenting and encapsulating the multimedia content. The multimedia file formats may comprise specific transport and/or application layer protocols used to encode the multimedia content or particular container or wrapper file formats. Often, these different file formats may be specific to a particular application, such as streaming multimedia content. For example, a desktop computer may store digital video multimedia content formatted in accordance with a container format, commonly referred to as “MP4,” defined by a Moving Pictures Expert Group (MPEG) 4, part 14 for these streaming applications. Other file formats for streaming multimedia content over a public network, such as the Internet, include an application layer protocol referred to as a Real-time Transport Protocol (RTP).
Given the wide variety of both types of wireless modems and file formats, multimedia ecosystems are often formed for very specific multimedia applications or, in some instances, groups of related multimedia applications. As a result, multimedia devices of one multimedia ecosystem typically only communicate with multimedia devices located in the same multimedia ecosystem. Moreover, while a multimedia device may belong to one or more multimedia ecosystems, inter-ecosystem communication is typically limited or prohibited by multimedia content providers to prevent wide-spread digital dissemination of the multimedia content for free. Consequently, multimedia content may tend to become fixed within a particular multimedia ecosystem.